Old mulberries in Camberwell - Discovering Camberwell history through its old mulberry trees, with Peter Coles

Camberwell is home to several fine old mulberry trees with interesting stories to tell. The walk starts at Denmark Hill rail station, opposite the imposing edifice of the William Booth Salvation Army College, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. Hidden in an inner courtyard is a collapsed old black mulberry tree that probably predates the College (access subject to permission). We move on through quiet residential streets to Lucas Gardens and Mistral Community Gardens, which are surviving remnants of the vast grounds of a (long demolished) psychiatric hospital – with no fewer than three old mulberries. The next leg of our walk takes us to Myatt’s Fields, steeped in London’s Huguenot history and once a market garden renowned for its strawberries and rhubarb. The park was laid out by Britain’s first female landscape designer, Fanny Wilkinson. The walk ends in Loughborough Park, which was still a plant nursery into the 1870s. Its much-loved old mulberry suffered a split in the summer of 2021 but is still thriving. Loughborough Junction train station is a short walk away.